City crash, but Pep jumps to blunder keeper Bravo’s defence

Pep Guardiola jumped to the defence of his blunder sweeper keeper Claudio Bravo in the wake of his dismissal in Manchester City’s humiliating 4-0 defeat at Barcelona in the Champions League last night.

The Manchester City manager said: ‘I spoke with Bravo, he was disappointed but it’s part of the game. But no change, (my confidence in him) stays the same.

‘Football is a game of mistakes, he knows what he did, but he has a lot of experience, he’s one of the best goalkeepers in last ten years. I don’t have doubts about him. He’s disappointed but he will learn from that.’

Bravo was dismissed for handling the ball outside the box. Pic: Getty Images

Bravo, who was brought in from Barca for his ball-playing skills while England No. 1 Joe Hart was farmed out to Torino, was red-carded for a professional foul. The Chilean handballed outside the box after he lost possession to Luis Suarez.

Guardiola insisted that Bravo’s continuing sticky start to his City career will not make him reassess his philosophy of playing out from the back. ‘I’m sorry, he said – until the last day of my career as a coach I will try to play from our goalkeeper.’

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